So what was that all about? What can Macomb County voters discern from the complex, contradictory election results that emerged Tuesday night?

The Democrats had a big night in Macomb.

But the Republican incumbents survived.

President Obama won, but achieved no coattails, as his strength at the top of the ticket was dwarfed by Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow.

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In the end, somehow we experienced a status quo election.

After winning Macomb County by a surprising 8.6-point margin in 2008, Obama on Tuesday held onto a 51.6 to 47.6 percent edge over Republican Mitt Romney. In contrast, Stabenow buried her Republican foe, Pete Hoekstra, in Macomb by a 60 to 37 percent gap.

On the Democratic side of the aisle, Congressman Sander Levin, who represents nearly all of the county lying south of Hall Road, posted a landslide win over Republican challenger Don Volaric.

Commenting on Democratic gains across the country, the 9th District representative said: "The big winner is the nation. What was at stake in this election is whether we're going to be a country where everybody's on their own, almost regardless, or whether we prize the individual and our sense of community."

Yet, Rep. Candice Miller, a conservative Republican and Mitt Romney campaign chair who covers the rest of the county and beyond, won by an even larger margin than Levin over Democratic newcomer Chuck Stadler.

Overall, Democrats who occupy the county's "Big Five" positions -- sheriff, prosecutor, clerk, treasurer and public works commissioner -- each won by near-landslide proportions or more.

Among the races for Macomb's nine state House seats, the Republicans and Democrats broke even, preserving a 5-4 edge in the delegation. The Democrats essentially pulled even on Tuesday after two Warren Democratic representatives -- Jon Switalski and Lesia Liss -- were forced to do battle in the August primary because of new district lines.

Switalski emerged intact and he will be joined in the Capitol in January by freshly elected Democrats Sarah Roberts of St. Clair Shores and Henry Yanez of Sterling Heights. The race between Yanez and Republican Sean Clark of Warren in the 25th District (eastern Sterling Heights and a portion of north Warren) was extremely close. But Yanez prevailed by about 1,000 votes over Clark, who had been viewed as a rising star in the GOP but has now lost two consecutive elections.

Democratic strategist Joe DiSano said the old joke calling Sterling Heights the haven for "Sterling Whites" has become outdated. The number of black voters and those with a Vietnamese, Korean, Chaldean or Albanian ethnic background has exploded in the city.

"Frankly, Macomb County is getting more difficult to figure out," said DiSano, a partner with Lansing-based Main Street Strategies. "These ... are changing communities and the old playbook doesn't work."

While DiSano concentrates on demographics, state Rep. Pete Lund, an architect of Michigan's new pro-GOP boundaries for Congress and the Legislature, keeps his eye on geography.

After the nation experienced three consecutive "wave elections" that stirred the political pot, Lund said the 2012 vote calmed the waters.

Democrats complain that the new House district boundaries give the GOP an unfair advantage. But Lund, chair of the House Redistricting and Elections Committee, said Democrats use the boundary lines as a crutch.

He said the Democrats "blew it" by not recognizing that the 30th House District (Utica and southern Shelby Township) was fertile territory.

Freshman GOP Rep. Jeff Farrington of Utica survived by a narrow margin though he faced a weak, inexperienced Democratic candidate.

Redistricting was also a factor in the elections for the Board of Commissioners. The districts drawn by Democrats eliminated most of the 2012 drama. Incumbents coasted to re-election and the three newcomers include Democrats Rob Mijac of Sterling Heights and Michael Boyle of St. Clair Shores, both of whom are returning to the board after suffering losses in the 2010 election.

Still, the Mijac and Boyle victories allowed the Democrats to expand their control over the 13-member board from 7-6 to 9-4.

At the local level, it appeared that a surge in straight ticket voting for the Democratic Party influenced some township board races, particularly in Clinton Township. Township Clerk George Fitzgerald, who has faced a series of accusations for on-the-job misbehavior, which plunged the clerk's office into chaos, nearly pulled off a re-election stunner.

Township Supervisor Robert Cannon, a Republican, said he fears that the cold, windy weather on Election Night, plus voter fatigue after standing in line to cast a ballot, influenced the outcome.

"Maybe people were in a hurry, just voted a straight ticket, and away they went," he said. "Some people were savvy voters, but I think we would have had a lot of changes if people didn't choose to vote a straight Democratic ticket."

Chris Marchione, a Democratic strategist and adviser to Yanez, said some Republicans exaggerate the story behind Tuesday's election returns.

"It was a good night for Democrats, but it wasn't a catastrophic election for Republicans," Marchione said. "I don't see anything that really stands out. I see that both sides got their base out."